Seminal seminary

Perhaps only such dereliction could excite in the British mind notions of sublime Romanticism. Despite its parlous condition, Gillespie, Kidd and Coia’s 1966 St Peter’s seminary was used as the backdrop for Hinterland, Scotland’s 2016 Festival of Architecture’s public art launch event. With monochromatic light installations, projections and a specially commissioned work by composer Rory Boyle, performed by St Andrew’s University’s St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, it was, by all accounts, a sight to behold. We’d expect nothing less from the masterpiece and its RIBA Gold Medal winning designers Isi Metzstein and Andy Macmillan – reputedly dubbed ‘the alter boys’ because they were constantly changing the details on the modernist icon.